Susan Salms-Moss (born Susan Leslie Moss, April 28, 1946) is an opera singer who made her career singing leading soprano roles throughout Europe. She appeared in numerous theaters in Germany, and throughout Europe, and is best known in dramatic soprano roles. She also has a business translating German texts into English. Biography Early life and education Salms-Moss was born on April 28, 1946, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Louis B. Moss, a manufacturer, and Dorris Teicher Moss, a homemaker. Her mother's family stemmed from near Lviv, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and her father's family came from Odessa and the surrounding countryside. Both sides of the family are Jewish. She grew up on Long Island and graduated from Great Neck South High School in 1963. In 1967, she earned her B.A. from Brown University, where she majored in French literature. At the same time, she studied voice and performed in concerts and onstage (e.g. Polly in The Threepenny Opera). After college, Salms-Moss moved to New York City and worked as part of a research project in foreign language teaching and testing methods at the Modern Language Association, while continuing to study voice privately, especially with Else Seyfert. Conductor Laszlo Halasz, founding music director of the New York City Opera, encouraged Salms-Moss to go to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1968 and study with Maria Carpi, best known for having trained soprano Gwyneth Jones. The year of music studies at the Conservatoire de Genève convinced Salms-Moss to pursue a career in opera. In 1977, she earned a music degree, with distinction, at the Musikhochschule Rheinland (then called Robert-Schumann-Institut) in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she studied with Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay. She also sang opera excerpts on Dutch television and radio. Career Salms-Moss made her professional opera debut only a few months later, as the leading soprano at the Städtische Bühnen (state theatre) in Münster, Germany, singing the role of Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. Early roles included Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème, Violetta in La Traviata, Marguerite in Faust, and Mozart roles such as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Her career took her to numerous theaters in Germany in the following years; from 1986 until 1999 she was a member of the Städtische Bühnen in Regensburg, Germany, while also accepting contracts throughout Europe,